Rocky View Gravel Watch is raking Rocky View County over the coals about gravel and is hopeful administration will take its submission into account and completely re-write the draft aggregate resource plan (ARP).
Once implemented, the over arching document would govern how and where aggregate industry operates and extracts gravel throughout the county.
The gravel watch group, comprised of more than 300 members, formed a steering committee of 15 to rewrite the draft and submitted it to the county late last month in order to address a number of critical issues the felt the county was either overlooking, completely missing or siding in favour of the gravel industry rather than the residents.
Their core message is simple: gravel operations do not belong near residential areas. Low-density residential areas should only permit aggregate operations if a strict set of criteria is fulfilled.
“I’m hopeful the county will reissue a draft ARP,” said Martyn Griggs, a Bearspaw resident and gravel watch member who submitted a letter last month outlining that the critical health risks of crystalline silica; the safety, traffic and noise concerns of gravel pits and equipment/trucks in quiet residential areas; and the need for the gravel industry to cough up the costs for stakeholder engagement and responsibility, rather than the municipal responsibility.
Much of what the group put forth through its submission – such as significant setbacks from all land users, including agricultural, of up to five miles; clearly defined performance standards; monitoring and regulation not unlike that imposed on the oil and gas sector; payment of reclamation fees up front by industry; removal of any safeguarding clause to sterile lands; and only moving forward if there is a demonstrable need for more gravel.
According to Grant Kaiser, senior manager of communications for the county, said they will have a more firm timeline of the next stages of development for the ARP by mid-April.
